We use cookies to ensure that you get the best experience on our website; if you continue without changing your settings - or dismiss this message - we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on forum.hendonfc.net

They obviously need the 3 points just as badly as we do but for different reasons. They're heading for promotion or the play offs at least so we are both desperate pretty much.

To be honest I see this as a free game for our boys. Play pressure free and see if you can scrap and battle to save a point. I know some of you green tinted glass wearing types are even entertaning the idea of going there and winning but that's gonna take a miracle of the highest order! Put down the crack pipe! :-)

If we go there and match them like v Bognor we can defo draw. I've had a pound on 2-2 at 18/1 for a giggle. I don't really fancy us but it's only a quid.

By the way my mate has a spare ticket for Millwall today so I'm being kidnapped by him to go down there. I'm a United fan but please don't grass me up! GO ON THE 'WALL AND THE GREENS AND REDS!

Before the game, I'd have been delighted to take anything out of the game - even more so when we were 3-1 down especially given the fact we had 3 debutants in the back 4. Hammond and McLeod-Urquhart both did well, Rumens less so - his half time substitution I suspect speaks volumes. Unfortunately with Casey's rib injury, Elliott B having picked up a groin strain that'll keep him out for a few weeks and Big Dave being away in Senegal visiting family, Gary didn't have a lot of options available.

However, I'm a touch disappointed we weren't able to conjour up an equaliser - I felt we were the better side for the last 50-55 minutes or so, and had it not been for the two superb saves from their keeper in the second half, we could well have come away with at least a point.

But we didn't - and with other results not going our way, it is looking a tough ask now. However, if we keep battling like we did today, who knows what can happen. I've not given up yet.

Back from the 'wall. They were pretty shite and won with 10 men! Looks like we were quite good and again come away with nothing. Going 1 up and then 3 goals in 10 mins? Really? This season is filled with deja vu moments like this. I think either the team is just cursed or never learns from their mistakes. If someone scores a worldy there's not a whole deal you can do about it but it seems rather curious that the team has had numerous leads this season and not been able to hold that lead for barely a few minutes. Some statto type can possibly count that up but I bet it's a fair few. Turn those into say just 3 wins and the relegation battle would be looking much more possible.

It seems odd that the team can also score in spurts but then finds it difficult to score at all for a whole half on other occasions. There seems absolutely no consistency to any of the team's play. I guess having a million and one players come and go explains that dilemma. Before the game we're expecting a defeat and hoping to play well. Bu then to play very well and get nothing seems a bit gutting to say the least.

As SteveHFC says we can't give up but it looks like the bottom four as they stand are getting cut adrift. Harrow won and they've still got 5 games in hand and so did Merstham. Our only hope is a Sudbury melt down of humungous proportions. They look like the only team we can catch. Even Burgess Hill have 3 games in hand on us.

If I was a bookie I'd say it's a 33/1 shot if not more to escape relegation this year. It's worth a pound but any more and you'd be barmy!

Many thanks for the feedback - yet another head-scratching team line-up to digest. My hopes were raised when I realised their formation. Initial reaction a potential lack of width, (not that we've had any of late). Frankly, to absorb such upheaval at the back against such a side is a difficult ask. We can by the sounds of it consider ourselves unfortunate on the day. We are currently above Sudbury and Leatherhead in the form guide. We need to keep it that way and markedly improve on their efforts - they clash mid-week. A couple of wins now becomes paramount. With games against both Sudbury and Leatherhead, both of whom appear to be struggling for goals and defensively, we have a genuine chance. Good to see the midfielders chipping in with goals of late, signalling progress.It's all to play for.

Our free kick was a worldy. Their one was pretty crappy looking. Keeper never moved a muscle. Their other goals look like further defensive lapses from regular crosses. It seems we're just too easy to score against. The opposition probably thinks, Ok it's only Hendon today, they'll huff and puff but sooner or later we'll breake'm down and they're right, they normally do. The players seem to just lack concentration at crucial moments. They have as much skill and tenacity as other teams in the Ryman but for some reason they cannot defend as a unit for a certain period of time.

I guess this is where pros have the edge over amateurs. They can be mentally more stable and concentrated whilst teams at this level can be defensively fragile. Maybe we need a pure defensive coach to drill the back four into defending as a unit who knows. Like a game in the school playground. No one seems to really care about "defending" shape and that line of thinking. Maybe it comes from the management and I don't know if they need to accept more of the blame for this lack of concentration when leading teams.

It's pretty pointless over analysing but when you look at the season as a whole, time after time you can see that the team is not defending as a unit and not concentrated on being solid and hard to beat. Maybe you Hendon fans want a more glorious form of football to enjoy but any team at this level in my opinion needs a solid spine from which to build and Hendon have sorely lacked that this season.

Well, an entertaining game at least and against a lesser keeper, we'd have got a point.

On the positive side, we almost totally dominated the 2nd half and still looked pretty potent after going down to ten men. Our two defensive loanees (that played the full 90) grew nicely into the game and looked good.

I can't really see us staying up because of our defensive fragility but history tells us that stranger things have happened.

PS: Maybe with a view to next season, Gary could take a look at a certain Tom Stockman. A defender who literally strolls forward from the back and has an uncanny knack of sneaking shots through the keeper's legs. Tom's a natural in front of goal and as he he would say, "they all count!" Graham....get those registration forms at the ready!!!

A very encouraging performance IMO. Dominated the game second half, and put some very good passages of play together. Deserving of a point, and if we can replicate that level of performance against some of the lower quality sides in our remaining fixtures then we might be OK. Obviously, we have our Cup Final against Ruislip first, but the fixture against Bi££ericay will be a challenge and hopefully we can replicate our approach that saw us take the advantage on the recent foggy evening.

This was intended as light hearted banter to hopefully lessen the inevitable gloom we all share at present and was not meant as a criticism - sorry that you don't share my sense of fun. After 60 years supporting Hendon, I would be devastated if they lost their long held top flight status.